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Topic: Questions you may have about March Pumps? post them here (Read 50328 times)

Thanks for this great info. I just ordered a new impeller last week as I was having trouble pushing wort through my heat exchanger and back into my mash tun, and a little trouble with priming and air leakage. I am hopeful that this upgrade along with a few hoseclamps will solve it. However, if not, are there other pumps availible (or on the drawing board) between your 815 and the nano pump (325?) at $350?

Anyway...I have a question regarding my March pumps. I have a Brutus 10 clone single tier brewstand. I use two pumps that are mounted below the kettles, and from time to time I have a problem priming the pumps. What are your thoughts in this regard. Any ideas, suggestions or input would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

If you can post a pic for me to look at it would help with suggestions...or email to me if you like

The pump on the right side with the plumbing attached in the pic.....take the 4 phillips screws out and rotate the pump head 180* so the inlet is at the bottom like the one on the left.....you are trapping air in the top portion of the pump head and cavitating it. Check out the posting i made about pump head orientation and look at pic#4 it will show you how you get air trapped in the top of the pump head with it mounted like that. Other then that it looks good......only other thing i can suggest is if you happen to be trying to pump the liquid at boiling temps then you may be drawing air in off the bottom of the kettle as the bubble form and you could cavitate the pump that way too.....just cut the flame and wait like 30seconds for it to calm down and then crank the pump up.

The pump on the right side with the plumbing attached in the pic.....take the 4 phillips screws out and rotate the pump head 180* so the inlet is at the bottom like the one on the left.....you are trapping air in the top portion of the pump head and cavitating it. Check out the posting i made about pump head orientation and look at pic#4 it will show you how you get air trapped in the top of the pump head with it mounted like that. Other then that it looks good......only other thing i can suggest is if you happen to be trying to pump the liquid at boiling temps then you may be drawing air in off the bottom of the kettle as the bubble form and you could cavitate the pump that way too.....just cut the flame and wait like 30seconds for it to calm down and then crank the pump up.

Thanks a lot Walter. I will make the recommended adjustments. It makes good sense.

The pump on the right side with the plumbing attached in the pic.....take the 4 phillips screws out and rotate the pump head 180* so the inlet is at the bottom like the one on the left.....you are trapping air in the top portion of the pump head and cavitating it. Check out the posting i made about pump head orientation and look at pic#4 it will show you how you get air trapped in the top of the pump head with it mounted like that. Other then that it looks good......only other thing i can suggest is if you happen to be trying to pump the liquid at boiling temps then you may be drawing air in off the bottom of the kettle as the bubble form and you could cavitate the pump that way too.....just cut the flame and wait like 30seconds for it to calm down and then crank the pump up.

Thanks a lot Walter. I will make the recommended adjustments. It makes good sense.

Exactly how I have mine and I never have any issues(except the mentioned boiling liquid). And I have the same system just with converted keggles instead of blichmann, so I can personally attest to that!

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Jason-Head Brewer, Brewtus Brewers in the Shenango Valley. Hopefully opening a brewpub/nano brewery in the next couple years.

I have a 809 HS pump. What does the high flow impeller do for the performance of that pump? I seem to recall the shut-off head of that HS model is on the order of 12 feet. Is there a pump curve for that impellor? What is different about the impeller and when should a brewer consider its use?

Thanks!

If you have the 809-HS inline version then right now it will do 6gpm and a max of 12.1 feet.upgrading to the 815 inpeller will increase the max gpm to 7 and raise the head to 18 feetit also helps a bit more in keeping the prime and passing bubbles easier due to the impeller being larger and taking up more space. The standard inpeller has a dia. of 1.687" and the 815 is 2.156 and has a stronger magnet.

We dont sell direct so the only way to get parts would be through a distributor. You can find a list of them on our website under the distributors tab. We have them listed by state so find the ones near you and give a few of them calls to see who can get you the best price. www.marchpump.com

I have a 809 HS pump. What does the high flow impeller do for the performance of that pump? I seem to recall the shut-off head of that HS model is on the order of 12 feet. Is there a pump curve for that impellor? What is different about the impeller and when should a brewer consider its use?

Thanks!

If you have the 809-HS inline version then right now it will do 6gpm and a max of 12.1 feet.upgrading to the 815 inpeller will increase the max gpm to 7 and raise the head to 18 feetit also helps a bit more in keeping the prime and passing bubbles easier due to the impeller being larger and taking up more space. The standard inpeller has a dia. of 1.687" and the 815 is 2.156 and has a stronger magnet.

Rebel Brewer has the impeller for the 815 for $22 plus shipping. I just installed it, but haven't used it. The old one is tiny by comparison. The new one fills up the housing nearly.

Thanks for this great info. I just ordered a new impeller last week as I was having trouble pushing wort through my heat exchanger and back into my mash tun, and a little trouble with priming and air leakage. I am hopeful that this upgrade along with a few hoseclamps will solve it. However, if not, are there other pumps availible (or on the drawing board) between your 815 and the nano pump (325?) at $350?

I'm so sorry that i overlooked your posting...to answer your question the pump in-between those two you mention would be our AC-3B-MD. That pump will give you an output of 10gpm and can pump up to 20' of head height. Its made out of the same material as the 809 and can handle the same temps.....

Once you understand the mounting issues of the pump head the next thing to check out would be the plumbing itself. Try and keep the hoses or pipes as short as possible and try not to have any high spots between the pump and the supply tank its drawing from. If you happen to trap some air in the line before you start the pump, even though it may be primed in the begining, it will suck that air pocket in and cavitate and give you problems. Most times people that have problems on start-up will shut the pump down and start again and most times that was enough to purge all the air out of the system. That usually tells me the pump head is positioned wrong. Another issue with priming the pump is when you have a full rolling boil.....in that case you are sucking air being generated from the boiling right off the bottom of the pot. In those cases just kill the flame and let the brew settle down for like 30seconds before starting up the pump so its not generating bubbles anymore.

I am in the process of upgrading my system and implementing a pump. I currently plan to use it only for recirculating wort back into the kettle while my immersion chiller is chilling the wort. I have a rather tall brewstand and use gravity for taking the hot liquor to the mashtun and running off wort from the mashtun to the kettle.

I see there are polysulfone headed pumps and brass/bronze headed.I've also been made aware the polysulfone are prone to wear and have fragile threads.I don't want metallic taste in my beer from the brass. Is this an issue?

Please help me decide which way to go. Pros and cons of both types?I tend not to want any brass in contact with my wort if I can help it but frankly I've not been able to detect any detracting flavors when using brass ball valves or brass barb fittings on my cooler mashtun or elsewhere in the system to this point.

TIA

Wurf

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Growing Centennial, Columbus and Chinook hops.Brewing IPA, APA, Dead Guy clone, and American Wheat most of the time.Located in Three Rivers MI

I am in the process of upgrading my system and implementing a pump. I currently plan to use it only for recirculating wort back into the kettle while my immersion chiller is chilling the wort. I have a rather tall brewstand and use gravity for taking the hot liquor to the mashtun and running off wort from the mashtun to the kettle.

I see there are polysulfone headed pumps and brass/bronze headed.I've also been made aware the polysulfone are prone to wear and have fragile threads.I don't want metallic taste in my beer from the brass. Is this an issue?

Please help me decide which way to go. Pros and cons of both types?I tend not to want any brass in contact with my wort if I can help it but frankly I've not been able to detect any detracting flavors when using brass ball valves or brass barb fittings on my cooler mashtun or elsewhere in the system to this point.

TIA

Wurf

People have had issues with the plastic head pumps with breaking off the threads.....but we find its more that they are over tightening the fittings when installing them on the pump. We usually recommend 1-2 wraps of Teflon tape....then hand tighten the fitting on but don’t try and crank it down as much as possible by hand.....then when you get it hand tight, give it another 1/4-1/2 turn with a wrench and that should be more then enough. The threads are tapered so the more you tighten it, the more stress you put on the connection as it gets tighter.As for Brass or plastic....I cant really give you an answer on which is better or not. I can just give you information and you have to make a decision for yourself.If you go with the brass, the advantages would be the strength most of all....they can take more pressure internally and obviously have stronger threads for fitting connections. But the biggest thing that i just want to make you aware of is that the brass contains up to 6% lead content. Keep in mind that’s the very same thing you have in your home fixtures unless you live in CA where they mandated 0% content few years back. The only difference is that no one drinks the hot water coming out of your home faucet, and the temp really never see above 135* out of you faucet either. So as to what affect that will have on anything i really don’t know. If you wanted a metal pump head, you could go with a stainless version we have. But i know for most people its too expensive and there is a competitor that sells them for way cheaper then us. I have seen them sell a complete pump head for almost as much as we buy just the raw castings for!! And we still need to spend some time machining the parts to our tolerances before final assembly! We strive to try and keep as much as possible made in the US before going elsewhere for parts. Those stainless pump heads are coming out of a foundry in PA. The competition is China...that's why they can sell them for so cheap. If you happen to have an existing 809-HS pump then you could go and buy their stainless pump head and swap it out and have stainless that way....just an option to throw out there for you guys..